Illinois among top 10 states in campaign disclosure laws

Voters in Illinois have some of the best lenses in the nation for viewing how campaign money is collected and where it’s spent.

A survey that evaluates campaign disclosure laws, electronic filing programs, public access to campaign finance information and Web site usability ranked Illinois among the top 10 states in the nation in disclosure with an overall score of "B." Thirty-six states earned passing grades for disclosure programs (the state of Washington ranked first), while 14 failed.

"People are either proud — as Illinois should be — in most categories, or say ‘we need to do better.’ It gives everybody a benchmark and lets them know how they compare to other states," said Bob Stern, president of the Los Angeles-based Center for Governmental Studies, which collaborated on the project with the California Voter Foundation and UCLA School of Law.

Illinois disclosure laws themselves were given an average rating, while electronic filing received a perfect score — tying with 14 other states for first place e-filing programs. The most significant improvements were in electronic filing, which now is available in 40 states, the study showed.

In Illinois, electronic filing became mandatory in 1998. If a political committee spends or raises $10,000 or more, disclosure reports are required to be filed electronically, though state election officials say many committees file electronically even before hitting that mark because of the ease of use. When the law went into effect, the threshold was $25,000, which was reduced to $10,000 in 2001.

"Illinois made great strides as far as where we were (with campaign disclosure) and where we went in a very short period of time," said Rupert Borgsmiller, the State Board of Elections director of campaign disclosure. "We’re very happy with our electronic filing and the way it’s taken off. I don’t think there’s any state in the country that has as many electronic filers as we do."

More than two-thirds of the 3,700 active committees file electronically and that information is almost instantaneously offered to the public through the Internet.

"The availability of the data is like a check and balance; you can see where the money is coming from and it’s out there immediately when a committee files a report with us," Borgsmiller said.

The study is designed to bring greater transparency and accountability to money in state politics. Results were released earlier this month.

Illinois received the lowest score, a "C," for its disclosure laws. In part, that’s because laws require state level candidates to report detailed information about contributors giving more than $150, with occupation and employer data disclosed only for those giving more than $500, according to survey findings.

In other categories, Illinois received above average ratings with a "B+" score for accessibility and ranked among the top five states with a "B+" for usability.

"The state continues to offer outstanding contextual information, such as its annual ‘Money and Elections in Illinois’ report detailing the total amounts raised and spent by state-level candidates, a glossary of common campaign disclosure terms, and a wealth of information about Illinois’ campaign finance restrictions and disclosure requirements," the survey noted.

In addition to Illinois, states with the strongest campaign disclosure programs are Washington, California, Oregon, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, New Jersey and Ohio. Those with weakest programs are Delaware, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Dakota, Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota, Alabama and Wyoming.

For more information, log onto www.campaigndisclosure.org.

Karen McDonald can be reached at (309) 686-3285 or kmcdonald@pjstar.com.